A leading data and security programming specialist is scrambling to restore operations after a ransomware incident, a new regulatory filing has revealed.
Data I/O provides solutions for Flash-based devices in the automotive, medical, consumer electronics and industrial control markets.
However, the US manufacturer said in an SEC filing late last week that it experienced a ransomware incident on August 16 that forcedit to take certain platforms offline and implement various mitigations.
“The company is working diligently to restore the affected systems. The incident has temporarily impacted the company’s operations, including internal/external communications, shipping, receiving, manufacturing production, and various other support functions,” it added.
“While the company has implemented measures to allow for the restoration of some operational functions, the timeline for a full restoration is not yet known. As the investigation of the incident is ongoing, the full scope, nature, and impact are also not yet known.”
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Data I/O said the incident doesn’t appear to have had a “material impact” on its operations, although that could change once the full impact and scope of the attack is known.
No mention has been made of potential data exfiltration, but the firm did admit that expected costs – including fees for security contractors and others – are “reasonably likely” to have a material impact on its finances.
Pete Luban, field CISO at AttackIQ, warned that attacks on manufacturers like Data I/O can have a major impact on supply chains, especially given that the Redmond-headquartered company counts Tesla, Panasonic, Amazon, Googleand Microsoft among its customers.
“Manufacturers should use this case as a lesson to enact proactive security measures to mitigate ransomware threats before they’re able to shut down critical systems,” Luban added.
“Utilizing adversarial emulation allows security teams to test their defenses against baseline behaviors associated with common ransomware groups. This way, organizations can shut off access to sensitive systems and information and keep supply chains intact.”
Manufacturers are a popular target for ransomware actors given their low tolerance for outages and the sensitive IP they manage.
Ransomware has cost the industry an estimated $17bn in downtime since 2018, according to a Comparitech reportpublished in December 2024.